Observations focused on the problems of an underdeveloped country, Venezuela, with some serendipity about the world (orchids, techs, science, investments, politics) at large. A famous Venezuelan, Juan Pablo Perez Alfonzo, referred to oil as the devil's excrement. For countries, easy wealth appears indeed to be the sure path to failure. Venezuela might be a clear example of that.

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Alek Boyd catches Piedad Cordoba lying and other interesting facts

November 27, 2010

Alek Boyd has been hitting hard lately with his relentless digging, catching a few lies by pro-Chavez foreigners or pseud-foreigners. His latest coup is being able to prove that Colombian Senator Piedad Cordoba has been lying when she says that she has never received money from the Venezuelan Government for political activities. Recall that Colombian police said they found a document about such funding in the papers of dead guerrilla leader “Mon-Joy”

What Alek did was go through the extensive documents he has on the Venezuelan Information Office (VIO) obtained as public documents from the US Department of Justice. And what he found is shown in this table, which shows that the Venezuelan Information Office helped Cordoba obtain at least ten separate meetings for lobbying for Cordoba on both Colombia and human rights, clearly an activity “funded” and supported by the Venezuelan Government, however indirectly.

Alek is my favorite investigative reporter. However, this time I have a comment about his comments on Eva Gollinger nationality. I do not want to make the apology of her character and I do find fishy her whole arrival and stay in Venezuela, but I would like to clarify some facts.

First of all, the “cédula” is not a nationality document. To have a venezuelan cedula one must be a venezuelan citizen but the inverse is not true: you can be a venezuelan citizen without having asked ever for a cedula.

When a child is born outside Venezuela from Venezuelan parents he or she must be registered at the Venezuelan Consulate. Then the Vzlan Consulate informs the appropriate entity of the latest address the parents had in Venezuela (for instance if they used to live in Chacao, it should be the Chacao city hall) that the child was born from venezuelan parents. That child can then one day come to Venezuela, i.e.to Chacao, and ask for a venezuelan birth certificate and then for a venezuelan cedula.

So Eva Gollinger’s mom might well be one of the “latent” venezuela citizens that never lived in Venezuela, never got a cedula, but never renounce to her Venezuelan citizenship.

The second point is that the previous Venezuelan Constitutions had different rules about who was or who was not a “venezuelan by birth”.
Then, the act of acquiring the citinzenship by birth depend on the conditions that were set in the Constitution at the moment of the child’s birth. I heard in the past that the “venezuelan by birth” citinzenship could be kept for up to seven generations of people born outside Venezuela. I don’t know where exactly was that law, but I heard it from knowledgeable people.

So, my conclusion is that more digging is necessary to truly establish that Gollinger is not really a venezuelan citizen.

Bruni, I think Alek is right. What kind of extra law is that about seven generations? Can your people tell you more details?
That about transmitting nationality through generations is something I have heard only from European countries, such as Italy and Greece

Kepler, is not an extra law. You are a venezuelan citizen by birth if (depending on the constitution in place when you are born) your mom and dad or your mom or dad are venezuelan citizens by birth. For instance, I was not born in Venezuela yet I am a venezuelan citizen by birth. I could be President of Venezuela. My kids were not born in Venezuela, yet they are venezuelans citizens by birth and could be President of Venezuela. Their kids even if they would not be born in Venezuela, unless the Constitution is changed before they are born, may be venezuelan citizens by birth..so this goes on and on.

This is what the Constitution says and has said in the past (as I told, there have been variations depending on the Constitution, for instance the 1958 Constitution was more “generous” than the 1961 in that respect). So I once asked a lawyer if that could go on and on until infinity and was told that no, that it is acceptable up to the seventh generation. I don’t know if that is a special law, if it was an article of the old Constitution, no idea. But the fact that you can have several generations of venezuelan by birth without anyone being actually born in the country is a fact: as long as each generation fulfill the particular restrictions of the valid Consitution at the time of their birth.

What is very strange is her cedula number, it is impossible to do anything without one. If she was Venezuelan and lived here in the early nineties she needed a cedula, the number does not jive. That has nothing to with how she got the nationality. She either had the right or not, then how come her cedula is circa 2005?

Miguel, I missed that part on Alek’s report. Where does he say that she claims to have lived in Venezuela in the 90’s?

What I find amazing is that she comes to Venezuela and buys a very expensive appartment right away.

I also find amazing her whole character: someone that lives in the States and uses the freedom of information that exists in the States to try to implicate people that she does not know in Venezuela and then flies to Venezuela and becomes a star of the revolution overnight and gets in charge of feeding Chávez with as many news about assassination attempts as she can.

Bruni, I take your comments on board. However, I happen to have some experience within my family about this business of acquiring Venezuelan nationality.

My grand father, although Basque, got the Venezuelan citizenship. Why? At the time he got to the country -early 50ies, Venezuela basically had a policy of welcoming immigrants and were keen on given them nationality. My mother, who was a child when she finally made it to Venezuela with my grandmother and uncle, had to declare via an administrative act -subsequently filed with DIEX when turning 18- whether she wanted to adopt the Venezuelan citizenship, or to keep her original one.

My understanding is that Golinger was not born in Venezuela, neither was her mother. I am not disputing the fact that she may well be entitled to Venezuelan citizenship because of her grandfather. What I find odd, is that she purportedly lived in Venezuela, for periods of time, between 1993 and 1998. She also got married to a Venezuelan, Gustavo MOncada.

So my question, which I think is a valid one, is: why is her cedula 22 millions, if she’s had right to citizenship all along? Why did she not get her cedula between 93 and 98, in which case the number would be different? If she didn’t have the right to nationality for whatever reason, and acquired said right due to her marriage with Moncada, again, why 22 mil number? If Mrs Calderon, Golinger’s mother, ever claimed her nationality, where’s the administrative act required? If such act was actually made, how come there are no records of her cedula, which is effectively the first thing you get once you have communicated to DIEX your disposition to adopt the Venezuelan nationality at 18?

I am jot saying Golinger has no right to claim her Venezuelan nationality. I am just saying the whole thing looks odd to me…

OK, now I get it, I had not payed attention to the link Alek put at first.

I see that the 90’s part which is strange but there could be one explanation nonetheless that depends on what happens with the cedula number when a foreigner becomes a venezuelan citizen. Does the number stays the same, or does it change? If it changes, that could explain the 20 million number: maybe she is not venezuelan by birth, but venezuelan by naturalization. In that case, she may have come in the 90’s as a foreigner, gotten a cedula as a foreigner. Then in the 2000’s, asked for citinzenship and when she got it, her cedula number changed.

Of course, this is supposing that foreign citizen cedulas change when they get their nationality. If not, there is no explanation because, indeed, it is almost impossible to function in Venezuela without a cedula.

This topic is of great interest to me. I was born in Madrid to a Venezuelan father and an American mother. Being born in Spain meant they had to choose whether or not I was going to be Venezuelan or American as being Spanish was not a possibility unless one of them was Spanish. I was declared Venezuelan. Shortly after our family moved to Venezuela and I was issued a baby passport. From there we went to Canada where I was nationalized Canadian after five years along with my father.

When I graduated from university in 1992, I moved to Venezuela with my father and lived there for six years. I remember going with him to the DIEX where we have a family connection who has/had a relatively high position there. Even with his help I was not able to get a Venezuelan cedula and has to settle for a transeunte status eventually getting a cedula residente. They could not find any record of my ever having been Venezuelan! We had a house fire when I was a child that destroyed my Venezuelan baby passport and my birth certificate.

I have since moved to the UK. I have a lot of family in Venezuela. I once wrote an email to the embassy here in London explaining all this and never got a reply. If I could get Venezuelan nationality I would take it as I have connections there that would make it useful to have. I never thought (until now) of asking for the Canadian papers showing my nationality when I was a Venezuelan child becoming a Canadian. That could be fruitful avenue to pursue.

If any of you have any advice I would be most grateful. This blog has become the most important source of Venezuelan insight I can find on the web. Many thanks MO

I am surprised you had trouble even though you had good contacts in the DIEX.

Generally it is hard to do anything in Venezuela without contacts and when you have them , most anything is possible.

When I first went to the DIEX to get my residency, I would stand in line day after day ,month after month, and NOTHING.
Then my husband went with me one day, walked through the door that said ” NO PASE” opened up the door of the Jefe and said ” mira machete hazme un favor, necesito una visa para mi esposa” He replied, “como no” and stamped my visa on my passport.Just as simple as that :)

You have to know how to work the system…nothing is orderly and logical.

There are gestores in Venezuela who can get you a birth certificate.You need to ask around.Some people of the older generation from small towns NEVER had birth certificates and have had to use these gestores.

BTW this article is the same in the 1999 Constitution (art 32, par 3).

So according to this, the fact that you would have asked for the venezuelan citizenship should be enough if your father was a venezuelan born citizen at the time of your birth (with the old constitution you could lose the nationality, so you must check what nationality your dad had at the time you were born).

The other things are the Venezuelan consulate in Spain where you were presented as a baby. They should have a copy of your birth certificate.
Another possibility is the venezuelan entity of the address your dad declared when he presented you at the consulate in Spain..but that is more complicated because very often the consulates are not that efficient and neither are the venezuelan entity.

I would check the venezuelan consulate in Spain, they should have a copy.

What about the countless “new” citizens from China, Iran, Syria, Africa, etc. that received a cedula with voting priviledges before they had even picked up their bags from the baggage claim, not even speaking a word of spanish?

Concerned please do not be concerned about the “new” citizens. Appears they are just temporary. The Panamanians think it is a little strange to find a poor Somail farmer in the Darien…with him carrying a Venezuelan passport and $1,000 in crisp new dollar bills. Mostly likely he is in route to New York City where he will have a day job of driving a taxi….that will leave his nights free so he can do other stuff.

Seriously, would anyone know how many foreigners Chavez is aiding so they can make their way to the USA? I know of one case a couple years ago when the Panamanians caught an American on drug charges. He had a Venezuelan passport.

I am not concerned about the new citizens competing for space or jobs. It is all about the vote. As long as they hold the papers, regardless of where they reside, their number will always count as a vote for chavez or any of his psuv elections. Don’t be so quick to discount this point. If you knew how many ghosts were, and will be counted, you would be concerned too. The opposition is the only party playing by the rules with the deck continuously being stacked against them.

Concerned, one of the greatest crimes of Chavez is to have given Venezuela citizenship to hundreds of thousands for electoral purposes. Nowadays criminals, terrorists, and drug traffickers are popping up around the world carrying Venezuelan passports. Venezuela is the new Colombia, thanks to Chavez.

Chavez must have given Eva Venezuelan nationality to legitimize her getting involved in Venezuelan affairs.Chavez frowns on foreigners commenting on Venezuelan affairs ???

Of course ” mi comandante” is free to meddle in everyone else’s affairs anywhere in the world as he sees fit( especially the USA).

She must be making a mint and living high on the hog with all the attention given to her….shall I mention sociopathy?

However kowtowing to Chavez by paying too much attention to proving details about her, only takes away energy and time for planning Chavez’s downfall.It gives too much consideration to his FALSE and above all hypocritical demands.

It is somehow similar to creating straw men arguments that people uselessly attempt to refute.

To play the devil’s advocate for a second, Chavez is not the first to give away Venezuelan citizenship for electoral purposes. Los Adecos did it all the time. They not only gave cedulas away left and right to citizens of “la hermana republica”. They also built them towns (“San Josesito”, less than 1hr away from San Cristobal, is just one example of this). In fact, one tragic statistic about the Adecos as compared to Chavez, is that not only they built more housing that Chavez, they built more housing particularly for electoral purposes.

Having said all this, as I’ve mentioned in previous comments, to me Chavez IS the biggest “vende patria” of all. He is truly giving the country away so he can perpetuate himself in power. Which takes me to the REP (“Registro Electoral Permanente”) and the CI (cedula de identidad). These two items are but tools for Chavez to achieve perpetuity. If the REP was a “maleable” registry before Chavez, with Chavez it is an extremely “fluid” database, where entries are added at their whim and in whichever order fits their need. The REP is just one more institution that, though was never great before Chavez, is has now been run down with him. The way I see it is that the REP is one more institution that will have to be rebuilt after Chavez is gone.

Alek – Everyone’s been writing about the impact on Venezuela of having the likes of Golinger purport to be Venezuelan and have a cedula, etc. What about her U.S. citizenship? Isn’t she liable to some tax situations and the fact that she’s an enemy of her own country “the imperio” as they like to call it? What about that? Weren’t the Rosenbergs branded enemies of the people in the U.S. for working for the Soviet Union and were even tried and punished? Maybe she doesn’t deserve that solution, but certainly should be investigated thoroughly for her alliances with the likes of this group of thugs.

Alek, you have my greatest respect. I follow your investigations via your tweets and other communications. Keep up the good work!!!

My wife is American, and we got married in Venezuela last year. Our original plan was to remain in Venezuela for a couple of years, since she wanted to travel the country and spend time with my family, and then relocate to the US. Nice idea, yes?

Her initial trip was from January to April, and our wedding was in March. Shortly after the wedding, we went to ONIDEX in Maracaibo, and were turned away. “No, señor, no se puede, es que vienen reglamentos nuevos y no podemos darle visa a su esposa”. She had to leave at the end of her 90-day stay. Even if I hadn’t had reason to despise Thugo and everything he stands for before then, having to kiss my bride goodbye less than a month into our marriage would have been enough to turn me against him.

While in the US, my wife started the paperwork to secure my immigrant visa to the US. She returned in July, staying until October. We tried to get her a visa again, so that we could remain together while we waited out the US immigration process. We used a gestor with supposedly excellent contacts. He was told that they would not do anything for us. It is at this point that we decided her nationality was the factor keeping them from granting us what we were entitled to by law.

Luckily, we didn’t have to wait much longer after her October departure, as my visa was granted in early January, and I landed in the US a week later, exactly a year after her initial arrival in Venezuela. The US immigration authorities have been nothing but courteous and efficient in their dealings with me, a far cry from the corruption and hostility shown by my own countrymen.

Megaescualidus, yes the adecos gave away citizenship. Now please name one example of the adecos having given citizenship to known terrorists, and having appointed said terrorists to official positions. Thank you.

BB, as far as I know, Golinger is liable to US tax authorities (IRS) for her income in Venezuela, or in any other part of the world, though I am willing to stand corrected if that is not the case.

You know what I don’t like…first that the post was about Piedad Córdoba and we ended up discussing Eva Gollinger…and second that, as Juan Cristobal hinted in one of his latest posts…these women perpetuate the image of women that depend on men, in this case Chávez…so many women 100% at his service: the fiscal, the TSJ, the CNE, the AN, the ombusdman..always women that are given power just to keep Chavez in power.

From Miguel’s original post …
“Boyd has been on a great streak, showing and questioning the story of “la novia de Venezuela” Eva Golinger, whose cedula number does not jive with her story and her lies and violations of US laws… ”

Alek,
If Golinger holds US citizenship, she is required to report to US tax authorities for all income, regardless of which country she earns it or spends it, or which bank it’s held.
Some countries may have agreements with the US that require tax to only be paid to one country.

Maria, I beg to differ, Golinger is indeed another parasite, milking the revolution for all its worth. Only in chavismo can such a mediocrity, such an intellectually impaired person, succeed. But stupid she is, for her life after Chavez will be very, very difficult. Her public persona is forever damaged, and only a stupid person risks reputation for a fraud and a criminal like Chavez.

Bruni, you are right, we can only hope that Colombia’s judiciary will deal with Cordoba appropriately. The information I published is in their hands. It remains to be seen what do they with it.

Marc, I think across the world, there are treaties to avoid double taxation. According to IVSS, Golinger started earning only in Venezuela only in 2010. How about between 2005-2009, or are we to believe that she work 4 years for free? What about that 400 million apartment she got, where did the money came from? I’ve asked her publicly to explain how does one go from being a nobody in the US to publishing books in Cuba/Venezuela in official acts. Mind you who paid for that, for all the travelling, etc.? Where’s that income reflected?

Megaescualidos, I’m afraid I have the same problem as you and your wife. My husband is Venezuelan and I’m American. We’ve been married over 45 years, we lived in Venezuela for 10 years (I had a residency then), had four children in Venezuela and one in the US (all have venezuelan citizenship). However, in the 1980’s we came back to the US (things were not going to well in Venezuela) and stayed here. In the meantime, it seems that I lost my residency in Venezuela. My oldest son and I bought a house (registered in his name) and every year for the past 10 years (since the Vargas deslave) I’ve been going back to stay at least the 90 days. My husband and I have tried to get another transeunte visa for me for the past 4 years, with no success. At one time, after filling out the papers and getting all the required documents, they said it was too late and I had to leave the country. Another year, we tried in the consulate and they said that they were not giving out transeunte visas in the consulate that I would have to go to Venezuela to do it. The next year, we tried again in Caracas and after sending us all over the place, ONIDEX said that they were not giving any kind of visa that year. This year, we tried again at the consulate and as far as they are concerned, they didn’t have any record of the registration of our marriage (we were married in NY). Now they tell us that my husband (who is now in Venezuela) has to go back to the parish (where they believe our marriage was registered) and start all over again. On my side, I have decided that I shall continue going as a “tourist”, wait for a change in government and hopefully a change of all their silly rules (which change almost every year anyway). Yes, I believe that they whole problem is because I happen to be American, no matter that I have a Venezuelan husband and five Venezuelan children!!!

Replying to Deanna: I have a similar but opposite problem. I’m Venezuelan but bred in the U.S. Been married to the same American for 50 years. Have 3 American (US born) children and 3 US born grandchildren. Some time in the 70’s my American born husband decided to come try our luck in Venezuela. In 2003 I obtained a US resident visa. In the meantime, my husband has developed a very serious neurological problem and although we’ve tried, can’t move him to the U.S. I decided to take the citizenship exams and passed with flying colors, plus I’d never even had a parking ticket in the U.S. so the FBI test was also fine. The trouble, during the interview the examiner asked me “Are you willing to take up arms against your country, Venezuela?” Put in that particular way I sort of hesitated since I’ve never even had a gun in my hand, plus now I’m in my seventies. Thought about “you know who” and said YES!!! Still, they wouldn’t grant citizenship because I haven’t been living continuously in the US in the past 3 years inspite of the fact that I lived about 25 in the U.S. and go every time my son can come and help take care of his Dad.
Must be a sign of the times. Now every time I enter the U.S. with the resident visa, I get an admonition that it will be taken away!!!!

So, UK Observer, as BB and I have commented in this post, marriage is not an answer, and as far as I know, using a gestor seems to be quite illegal. The only way I can see through this is to find a Chavista friend who has some influence in Extranjeria (I cannot keep up with the new names) and get him to give you the visa (it may take some bribes)–the last time some one in Extranjeria tried to help my son with his Venezuelan passport, they asked for 2 million Bs (de los debiles), which at that time was equivalent to $1,000. He was able to get his passport through perseverance, without using gestores or Chavista connections, or paying a million Bs, just dogged persistence!!!

Deanna: Unbelievable! My heart goes out to you and your family. Hopefully once the current administration leaves office things will change for us all. I love the US, and look forward to becoming a citizen, but I don’t want to give up on Venezuela. My heart belongs to both places.

What do you mean by “admonition”, though? How much time out of the year do you spend in the US? Lengthy stays outside the country (usually more than a year) without obtaining a re-entry permit or returning resident visa may indeed be taken as abandonment of residency, resulting in the revocation of the green card/resident visa. Maybe this is what the immigration officials warned you about?

Yes, I agree with you. The extent of the damage from the Adecos was nothing compared to Chavez’s. Los Adecos never gave Venezuelan citizenship to known terrorists (and even less, put them in government positions). As I said in my previous comment, in my view, Chavez will hold a record in Venezuelan history: the biggest “vende patria” of all.

Legally people have to spend at least 6 months out of the year in the US to maintain residency.In reality many people get away with only going every 8 or 9 months.I know, because I knew loads of high schoolers in Venezuela who had US residency and only returned to the US in summer vacation.

If your children are citizens they can petition your citizenship and it can go rather quickly.It doesn’t require your living in the US 3 consecutive years.

Some places in the US are easier than others to obtain citizenship, perhaps you should ask around.Here in NC it can go a lot quicker than in Florida for example.

[…] (through Monomeros, a fully owned subsidiary of PEQUIVEN, in turn owned by PDVSA) and in the US (lobbying done by the Venezuela funded Venezuela Information Office). Saab does not deny involvement with FGC in Venezuela or Colombia, despite absence of registry […]